Ben Kates

Ben Kates is a saxophonist originally from Massachusetts who spent ten years in New York City and has lived in Portland since 2006. Ben has collaborated with artists such as William Hooker, John Gruntfest, Linda Austin, Thollem McDonas, Tere Mathern and Gino Robair. His ongoing projects include Brother Donkey (a duo with Brian Mumford), Thicket (with John Niekrasz and Brian Mumford), It’s OK, Girl (with Danielle Ross), Fire&Flux (with Richard Gilman-Opalsky) as well as solo performance. Ben is the artistic director of the Creative Music Guild.

Danielle Ross

Danielle Ross is a Portland bred and Bay Area trained dancer and choreographer. She is interested in how we perform for one another out there in the world. Ross holds a BFA in Dance and Performance Studies from UC Berkeley. She has produced three full length works: Make the Air Thick, Home/Body and To Remember is to Jump Around There. In 2011, she curated San Francisco’s Fact/SF into Performance Work’s Northwest’s Alembic Series and in June, 2013, she curated an evening of work by French Choreographer Christine Bonansea. She has worked with Linda Austin, Dawn Stoppiello and Zoe/Juniper for their 2011 installation at Lincoln Hall. Most recently, Ross began developing a new work, Togetherness, while in residence at Studio 2 in Portland. Togetherness will be performed in late 2014 and is being partially funded by a generous grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council. She is also a founding member of FRONT, a Portland run publication dedicated to contemporary dance and on the board of the Creative Music Guild.

Catherine Lee

A diverse musician, Dr. Catherine Lee has performed extensively as a solo, chamber, and orchestral musician on oboe, oboe d’amore, and English horn in a wide range of artistic settings, including classical, contemporary, and free improvisation. As an interdisciplinary artist, Catherine collaborated in the creation of Reeds a site-specific work by composer Emily Doolittle (Sound Symposium, 2010), and of pieces with POV Dance (Ten Tiny Dances, 2008) and Tracy Broyles (Risk/Reward Festival, 2012). Catherine has performed in the oboe sections of many ensembles, including Oregon Symphony, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Portland Opera, Portland Cello Project, and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, and was a tenured member of Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil from 2003 to 2008. She has also performed in ensembles led by improvisers John Gruntfest, Gino Robair, and Tatsuya Nakatani. In the spring of 2013, Catherine released a solo CD titled Social Sounds, featuring works by Dorothy Chang, Jerôme Blais, Tawnie Olson, Emily Doolittle, and herself (available at iTunes, Amazon, etc.). She holds a Doctor of Music in Oboe Performance and a Bachelor of Music from McGill University (Montreal, Quebec), as well as a Master of Music and a Performer Diploma from Indiana University (Bloomington, IN). She has recently been appointed to the music faculty at Willamette University and the principal oboe chair with the Salem Chamber Orchestra. For more information, see www.catherinemlee.com.

Matt Hannafin

Matt Hannafin is a New York–born, Portland-based percussionist active in Iranian classical and traditional music, free improvisation, and contemporary solo percussion. He studied Persian tombak with master Kavous Shirzadian; frame drums with Jamey Haddad, Glen Velez, and Layne Redmond; African and Afro-Caribbean percussion with John Amira and Magette Fall; and voice with composer La Monte Young and the legendary Pandit Pran Nath. He’s performed with a wide range of collaborators in both traditional and avant settings, including Sun Ra altoist Marshall Allen, trumpeter Nate Wooley, Turkish multi-instrumentalist Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Borbetomagus guitarist Donald Miller, electronics players Brian Moran and Doug Theriault, pianist Dan DeChellis, and turntablist Maria Chavez, as well as with traditional Persian, Sephardic, and Ukrainian ensembles, percussion ensembles, modern dancers, and Zen flower arrangers. He has appeared at venues and festivals around the United States, including the United Nations General Assembly Hall, the New England Conservatory (Boston, MA), the Miami Iranian Cultural Festival (Florida), the Salem World Beat Festival (Oregon), and New York venues Symphony Space, St. Marks Church, the Issue Project Room, Roulette, and the late, lamented CBGB’s. He has released more than twenty recordings, including Eight Songs Between Morning and Dark, a suite of duo improvisations with shakuhachi master Jeffrey Lependorf (available at iTunes, Amazon, etc.). More info and links to downloadable recordings (some paid, some free) at www.matthannafin.com/Music.html .